872 The American Naturalist. [September, 
over and assumed the usual attitude seen in the figures and then con- 
_ tinued the conjugation normally. 
ai accomplishing this feat the male first removed his left claw from 
the left claws of the female, and seized her rostram and head region. 
By this means he turned her to lie on her left side while he was on her 
right. Next, the right claw let go its grasp of the female’s right claws 
and seized her left claws. He was now able to turn her on the dorsal 
surface, and by then changing his left claws from the rostrum to her 
right claws succeeded in moving forward over her ventral surface as 
normally takes place. Ten minutes later sperm was passed and conju- 
gation continued for some hours. 
While there can be little doubt that the sperm so elaborately trans- 
ferred to the annulus is subsequently used to fertilize the eggs as they 
are laid, this is, as yet, not demonstrated. One female deposited eggs 
in confinement towards the end of March, but these eggs did not develop, 
and part of the process was no doubt abnormal, This female wasin a 
peculiarly sensitive state for four or five days prior to laying. During ~ 
this time any approaching object, though ordinarly causing no reaction, 
would excite the female to active movements and the raising of the 
claws in an aggressive attitude. During this period the female most 
assiduously and diligently cleaned oft the foreign deposits from the ex- 
oskeleton over the ventral surface of the abdomen and from the pleo- 
pods so that this region was conspicously white. 
The fifth walking legs are employed in this function, being bent back 
under the abdomen and rubbed against the pleopods with an unexpected 
amount of precision 
During this period also the female may be found at times lying on 
the side or on the back, and actively moving the pleopods back and 
forth in a rhythmic way once in about one second. The endopodites 
of the third maxillipedes and the chelæ and the first and second walk- 
ing legs are likewise, slightly, swung back and forth. 
The actual laying of the eggs took place during a night and a day. 
At this time a large mass of slimy material extended like a veil from 
the tip of the bent abdomen to the ventral side of the thorax anterior 
to the third walking leg. Some of the eggs were enclosed in this mass 
and some in a similar mass attached to the pleopods. It would seem 
that the eggs could pass from the oviducts under protection of this se- 
cretion to their destination on the abdominal appendages. 
This mass of secreted material disappeared entirely within two days. 
The eggs then remained attached to the pleopods. 
